Gifts that give twice: Charitable gift cards

By Jennifer Maciejewski

Give more meaning and economize your holiday gift giving this year by purchasing gifts that give twice: charity gift cards.

Cash in for charity

If you're hanging onto gift cards that you don't need and won't use, donate them to the nonprofit of your choice. The organization can then take unused gift cards with a minimum balance of $10 and convert them into cash through Plastic Jungle's gift card fundraising program, which gives the nonprofit 70 percent of the total gift card value. E-mail Plastic Jungle for more information.

Choose-your-charity gift cards
If you're thinking about giving charitable gifts as holiday presents this year, join the crowd: 49 percent of people are likely to do just that, according to a November World Vision survey. And because 84 percent of people would rather receive a meaningful gift than a traditional one, the odds are in your favor that they'll appreciate the gesture.

Although you can donate to a specific charity in their name, since your cause may not be their preferred cause, consider buying choose-your-charity gift cards, such as those offered by CharityChoice, GiveNow, Good Card, TisBest, and OptINnow. The gift cards are tax-deductible for the giver and customizable for the recipients. When they redeem the cards, the recipients sort through a list of possible charities and select which organization they want to benefit from the gift.

The charities will certainly appreciate the effort. "This economy is affecting charities with a double whammy," says Danny Goodman, executive president of CharityChoice Gift Cards. "Charities are seeing their donations drop and their requests and needs rise. What we're offering is a tremendous opportunity in challenging times for donors. It gives them the opportunity to do 100 percent tax-deductible giving, and by merging their charitable-giving and gift-giving budgets, they've automatically economized; they're getting two dollars for one."

Traditional gifts with a twist
When shopping for people who prefer traditional gifts, there are still ways to give back a little with every purchase.

If you opt for Visa or MasterCard gift cards, choose one that designates a portion of the purchase price for charity. For instance, with the Giving Tree Gift Card MasterCard, the recipients can spend 90 percent of the card's value like cash, but when they activate the cards, they browse through a database of 1.5 million nonprofits and select one to receive the remaining 10 percent.

If you'd prefer to give a merchant-specific card, buy the gift card from programs that donate a portion of the purchase to the charity of your choice, such as Scrip or We-Care. The donations range from $0.50 per card to 17.5 percent of the face value, and you'll find everything from iTunes and Barnes & Noble to Discover and American Express gift cards.

For a specific gift, shop online at sites such as OneCause, iGive, and We-Care, where merchants donate anywhere from 1 percent to 25 percent of the purchase price to your cause. To maximize the contribution, make the purchase with your cause credit card.

While double-duty gifts will help you give a bit more to charity this holiday season, don't substitute them for your regular charitable giving. "I would never want anyone to say, 'I'm using We-Care.com, so now I'm going to stop making donations to the organizations I support,'" says Bill Snyder, general manager of We-Care.com. "The donation from a single purchase is often going to be from $1 to $5 (though some can go into the hundreds of dollars). These small donations add up over the course of the year and can help nonprofits expand the work they do, but they're not going to replace direct donations."

Shop smart
Whether you choose a customizable charity gift card, a traditional gift, or something in between, spend wisely this holiday season. Don't buy things you don't need or want just to earn a donation.

"If you have extra money, please just donate it," Snyder says. "There are plenty of worthy organizations that need it. I think, and hope, people are shopping more carefully this year -- comparing prices, clipping coupons, shopping online to bargain hunt and save gas. We are one more tool to help you shop carefully and stretch your money further, both by saving you money with special offers we get from our merchants and by allowing some of the money you're already spending to go to a cause you believe in."

Published: December 16, 2008

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